Silent Film with Live Improvised Piano

Har Zion has an exciting opportunity coming up—the screening of an 1923 silent film with bilingual captions—Yiddish and English—starring the incomparable actress Molly Picon, accompanied, as it should be, with live, improvised piano music by pianist and composer Dr. Larry Schanker!

We will enjoy dessert before the screening.

The Actor: Molly Picon

Molly Picon was born in 1898 and died in 1992. She started her acting career—which spanned 70 years (!)—began as a child in vaudeville, in 1904. After silent films, she went on to act in both Yiddish and English films and theater. Outside of Yiddish entertainment, she was best known for playing Yente the Matchmaker in the 1971 musical Fiddler on the Roof.  You can learn more about her at the Jewish Women’s Archive.

The Film: East and West

The film being shown is the 1923 silent East and West. It is the oldest surviving Yiddish language film and Molly Picon’s earliest recorded performance. The website Movies Silently has an interesting discussion and synopsis of the film. East and West “features classic scenes of young Molly Picon who lifts weights, boxes, teaches young Yeshiva ‘bochers’ to shimmy and steals away from Yom Kippur prayers to gorge herself!” (Jewish Film Institute, https://jfi.org/programs/jfi-film-archive/east-and-west)

The Musician: Pianist, Composer, and Piano Improviser Extraordinaire Dr. Larry Schanker

And pianist Dr. Larry Schanker. Larry has received multiple Jefferson Award nominations for Chicago theater, including for composing the music for A Christmas Carol at The Goodman Theatre. He holds a doctorate in music, serves as the Executive Director and Music Specialist at the Brookview Montessori School, and is well known in the Midwest for his improvised accompaniment for silent films.

Details to come.